Max Nisen, Columnist

Three Reasons the New CDC Mask Guidance Makes Sense

Covid vaccines are highly effective. But the rapid spread of the delta variant changes the equation.

July 27, 2021 at 7:35 PM UTC

Max Nisen is a healthcare analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. He previously wrote for Bloomberg Opinion, Quartz and Business Insider.

It’s better to have public-health leaders willing to change their minds in response to changing evidence than waiting too late. — It’s better to have public-health leaders willing to change their minds in response to changing evidence than waiting too late.
Photographer: Patrick Meinhardt/Bloomberg

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

Just two months after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was generally safe for those vaccinated against Covid-19 to drop their masks, the agency switched course and now recommends that even the inoculated wear face coverings indoors in areas where the highly transmissible delta variant is spreading rapidly.

The guidance change may provoke some whiplash — and it’s already generated some backlash, if social media is any measure — but it makes sense. Here’s why: